Slow-cooked black lip abalone, a Coffin Bay oyster in a Peking Duck consommé
The staff, a 25-strong brigade of chefs alone in the summer, at The Point may well ask ‘what the point is’. Snubbed by the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide and starved of a chef’s hat for two years in the Good Food Guide, it is a demonstration of what a small food town Melbourne is.
It also demonstrates what a problem the media oligopoly is in Australia when there are only two restaurant guides and two newspapers to turn to in the two main cities.
Perhaps it is no surprise that Gourmet Traveller totally ignored this restaurant which is known for its steaks and its grazing and meat processing connections. Some might say it was ignored as it is for sale. But I doubt this is the case.
Gourmet Traveller is part of the whole Australian Consolidated Press-Packer-Crown-Casino love triangle. And that means that it only has eyes for one steak, that cooked by its favourite chef Neil Perry at Rockpool Bar and Grill.
This is a place where you can point at one of Earl Carter’s digitally manipulated cattle, grunt and pretty soon have a slab of meat arrive on your plate. (For girls and meterosexuals, there are menus and fish available live to be flapped at).
It’s an upmarket version of Vlados in Richmond, with its own cow picture, manipulated to become the size of one whole wall. Here the only choice is meat and girls and meterosexuals are advised to stay away.
Of course, The Point is different to Rockpool. Freestanding, it is also a café and function centre. Its aspect is not of a 1,000 miserable gamblers screwing up their balance enquiries before chucking them at the ATM. The Point looks across the city, over Albert Park Lake. The view is quite beautiful as long as the drought has not sucked on the lake and the foliage too hard.
Here there are no cow pictures to point at. But the service is efficient enough that if you grabbed a fork in your right fist and a knife in your right and started banging them on the table they’d get the idea without even the need to grunt.
Pheasant for the peasant
But you’d be far better to get somebody to read the menu for you. It offers so much more than steak with chef Scott Pickett having worked locally for Philipe Mouchel and Phillip Howard at The Square in London for three years.
When I ate there I was not unannounced. Pickett had told me about the game he was hanging and I had to have the pheasant so reserved one. I probably did get a slightly better service, certainly a better deal on the matching wines, but I could see the rest of the room was also treated well.
We started with a consommé – slow-cooked black lip abalone, a Coffin Bay oyster in a Peking Duck consommé and an aromatic herb salad.
The consommé may not have feature the micro herbs and flowers or the Japanese influences of The Royal Mail Hotel’s tuna broth or the smoke, crackle and fanfare or Attica’s award winning smokin’ smoky trout broth.
But, classical in its presentation, this consommé was right up there in flavour, texture and balance.
We ate well and drank well. The pheasant came out, presented to us whole on a platter with brussel sprouts and bread sauce in a tiny copper pan as sides. What can you say? These were good ingredients cooked well.
Refreshing caesar salad
What was remarkable was just as we thought we about to burst because we had eaten too much we were brought to life again by an astonishingly refreshing Caesar salad.
Usually, a Caesar is simple leaves, young if you are lucky, tossed with dressing. This was cos lettuce, still chilled, split in four to give added crunch.
It brought us both back to life ready for dessert, one of runny rich gooey chocolate ones.
The Point I’m guessing is suffering because it is not regarded as fashionable as when I first went there some eight years ago. And that’s a shame because it really deserves a look. And that’s The Point.
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{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
Interesting piece Ed. I’ve only been to The Point for functions, but from what you’ve written it seems well worth a look for dinner.
I’m just curious – do you think there are a lot of people who still think of the Good Food Guide as the one-and-only-significant reference on fine-dining in Melbourne? No disrespect to Lethlean and co., but surely the fact that there’s one dominant voice in published restaurant reviewing, and the commercial factors you mention, mean that the professional reviewer’s experience of any given restaurant would be vastly different from the average restaurant goer?
Anyhoo… just one gripe about your post: I’m a girl and I love steak! I mean, I really love big chunky super-rare charred steak. Yum. It’s not mutually exclusive.
(Btw, Vlado’s gets my vote over Rockpool every time; their painted cows are more badass than Rockpool’s).
xox Sarah
Perhaps it is unfashionable, (that thyme does look daggy!) but it is in somewhat of an out of the way place.
I know, as is Attica, Restaurant of the Year, but it has now become a destination restaurant, because of creative food.
I don’t think the Point has the ‘profile’ to play with the big boys in the hatted restaurants. It’s not enough just to have nice food anymore, you need to be the whole package (service, winelist, ambience, and a special ‘hook’ or two) to get people to notice you.
Was there alot of tweed jacket types there?
Jack
Sarah, you are right Vlados is badass. I love that big cow looming over the room. Just being provocative and I know you won’t just be pointing and grunting but taking pics as well
Jack, service food and wine are there. The room is good but you could be right about the location. There were tweedy types there but also young trendy looking Asians. There again JR has his fair share of tweed and 3 hats. It’s funny,to catch the tram there is no more effort than to the Casino and the walk to The Point is no further than to Rockpool. But somehow it seems a lot further. Maybe its something about entering a park on foot after dark.
1. Young Trendy Asians rule! But I wouldn’t be using our presence as an indication how hot a restaurant is. I’ll share with you a couple of quotes from my trendy young Asian professional friends. Heard in the last 6 months.
“Hey Sarah, have you heard of this Vue de Monde place? Is it good?”
“Sarah! I’ve got a new combination for you! Olive oil and balsamic vinegar! You use it to dip bread in”.
“Rockpool is shit; they don’t have mushroom sauce”
And so on.
2. Yeah I’m usually pretty polite at restaurants, even when obscene amounts of red meat are involved, haha. We always have a nice chat with Vlado whenever we go. He’s just lovely.
xox Sarah
Sarah, I’m related to people like that. And have I told you about th person I’m married to who I have seen put ketchup on spaghetti?
Ah, I have a strange relationship with The Point. I went to MacRob, and we would, in our uber-geekiness, walk a few laps around the lake as ‘exercise.’ I would secretly go there with my teachers and drink with them and then occasionally, a meal here and there, when I attended. I remember it being quite good, but I have only been back once since.
All I remember is that I had an aversion to the MSAC goers and the soccer-mum groups showing off their young suits. But then again, I can’t talk. I was the girl in the school dress getting tanked with the “responsible” oldies.
And yes, I agree with Sarah. Our kind are not good to judge on. I have many a quotes that result in my head being held in my hands.
Dear Sarah,
I may be mistaken, but did I meet you at Sunday lunch a few weeks back, over sprouts and lentils at Ed’s Vego gig?
That tofu was wild wasn’t it? Can’t understand mankind’s brutality to bovines myself.
The Original Neil
Ahhh – The Point. That’s where I was served a glass of chilled white wine vinegar instead of NZ sauv blanc and the staff wouldn’t believe it when we pointed it out. Apparently they weren’t allowed to taste from the offending glass – or the bottle from which it was poured, apparently! When it was proven we were right (no, we’re not being fussy. It really is vinegar!) they giggled in amusement, however a mouthful of straight vinegar does fairly unpleasant things to one’s digestion, and, to be honest, one’s goodwill. Particularly when an apology wasn’t offered and we were then charged full price! I felt a bit sad for them and haven’t felt inspired to return, which is a shame as it was a regular place for enjoyable dinners back in the day.
Jess, I remember aduts there when we ate as well.
Neil? The original Neil? I don’t believe it. The original Neil only eats food cooked in duck fat. I think you are some metrosexual masquerading as Neil. You probably also enjoy wagyu.
Niki, What surprises me most is that they had NZ Sauv Blanc on the menu and the staff didn’t steer you off it. Everybody knows that sauv blanc is a notoriously bad match with food which perhaps was the problem with the mix of high acid and too much tropical fruit. I’d imagine coming from NZ it would be closed with a stelvin which would make it extraordinary that it would be oxidized that much. The standard of service and wine service is pretty good there and when we even questioned one white they immediately opened another bottle. There again I could be wrong and often am.
The lack of passing by, incidential trade, always hurts a business. Its not like you are going to wander pass and feel inclined to pop in. If I’m going pass I’m in bad sports gear and trying to avoid being seen by diners basking on the deck.
At night, absolutely, a dark park doesn’t seem right.
I hear the functions are not bad there though; perhaps they are never going to win and should focus on this area, it has to make more $$ than fancy food.
Jack
Jack, I know what you mean about being off the beaten track.
I was at a function there and had one of the best truffle dishes I’ve had this year. Well, canape. A slice of wagyu, quail egg and a summer truffle. I’ve had combinations like this before but this really sung despite being what is alleged to be the less aromatic truffle.
Jeez, mate, good to see you’re keeping up with your research and due diligence – ACP hasn’t been owned by the company which owns Crown for some time now. And more to the point (ahem), our decision-making process for the Gourmet Traveller national restaurant guide involves no commercial considerations of the kind you suggest, and never has, as we clearly state in the guide’s introduction, so you might want to check your facts before you start throwing those sorts of phrases around.
How about you try looking for the simplest, most plausible explanation (something along the lines of ‘it hasn’t impressed our reviewers and there are so many great places in Melbourne that we need to leave some out for reasons of space’, perhaps) before you go striking any further blows for journalistic integrity?
Personally, my experiences at The Point have been far more consistent with the incident described by Niki, above, than your own. There are a great many places I’d eat in Melbourne ahead of it on any given day. But hey, that’s the beauty of having multiple voices in the marketplace, right?
See you in the feedlot,
Pat
Nice to hear from you Pat.
I’m very sorry, I thought that John Alexander was instrumental in bringing these Sydney restaurants to crown so he had somewhere he could eat when he visited the windy city. And I thought James Packer still had a stake in the magazines despite the venture capitalists moving in?
I’m just trying to account for the obvious bias towards Crown restaurants some of which can’t even pour a glass of red without dripping on the table cloth.
To be quite honest I’m not surprised you didn’t enjoy sauv blanc with your steak but if the sommelier recommended it I’m right there with you – that’s a terrible experience.
In a quick flick through the guide without even trying I can pick a dozen places that deserve to drop out before The Point. There again I tend to eat out at these places regularly so get to see the spread of food and service on offer.
I will agree that it is important to have multiple voices but it is a shame the Gourmet Traveller guide or magazine doesn’t endorse that (I’ll reference Never Eat Chicken on a Monday at this point).
See me in the feedlot? Sorry, I may be going against the grain but grass fed is more to my taste.
The problem is probably that
You tell ‘em Ed!!
As far as I can see the cocaine tooting wankers from Vaseline Valley should stay up there. If we wanted food that was all about style and had nothing to do with substance we’d live there – though I tried once many years ago and couldn’t take enough cocaine to keep up with the well dressed waifs from GT. Doubt anything grass-fed has ever passed the lips.
The Real Neil.
P.S. I’ll be up there on Tuesday night thatks to Jetstar cheap fares so will send a review from whatever is the most stylish new decor (with some token food).
XXX
The Real Neil, shame I can’t join you but I’ll be in Dubai probably in a restaurant pretending to be under water where the food costs north of $150 a head in sympathy with you. Would you like to do a guest post?
Ed – no, I was not served oxidised wine nor was the wine corked, off, tainted or even affected by the stelvin top. I was served white wine vinegar, as in the type used to dress a salad. It was not ordered to accompany a steak, and no, we weren’t steered away from ordering it, possibly because the staff were so clearly inexperienced (and evidently storing wine vinegar in a white wine bottle in a kitchen fridge). Have you ever taken a swig of wine vinegar? – probably not; no person would choose to -it’s nasty, burning stuff! My nonno used to make it in his garage and you could strip paint with it. There is simply no way it can be mistaken for wine that is tainted.
(I have to admit that I found your wine instruction just a tad condescending, actually!)
Niki, get wot ya deserve drinking K1W1 sauv. Can’t think of any food that might actually go with it – maybe go to Thailand and get some super hot chilli’s and you might have some kind of match. I rekon the vinegar might actually taste better.
REALLY, I’m surprised a fashion victim like yourself hasn’t caught the Pinot Gris craze yet. And not such a bad craze it is, might even find some sort of harmony with your food. I hear the Sydney Chardonnay Socialists have gotten onto it as well – proper PINKO’S now.
Perhaps you could put lots of sweet flavours with your main/savoury course if you want to drink Marlborough Sauv Blanc. If your into wine with no balance why don’t you try some Otago Pinot Noir – Fruit bombs with no structure. Or perhaps you’re the sort keeping Barossa producers afloat – red wine with more alcohol and American Oak the Jim Beam and Coke. Don’t need any food with that -
Stay skinney.
If you think Ed’s condescending you need to get out more.
Neil Neil Banana Peel.
Niki I wasn’t referring to you drink SB with steak but Pat Nourse who as features editor of Gourmet Traveller should know better. But in all seriousness it is a wine that goes really badly with food. Nevertheless, inexperienced wine staff is annoying and a big problem – the industry is short 50,000 people in Australia. There are many restaurants with one or two hats that have young staff who can’t even pour properly let alone recommend much. I don’t think one bad wine is enough to keep them out the guide. But in general if they help you choose a wine and you don’t like it they should offer you something else.I had an experience at Mirka where two waiters told me the wine was okay when we hated it and we hat to sit through a meal with shit wine which is really annoying. Was it wine by the glass you ordered or a whole bottle? By the bottle with a Stelvin it shouldn’t oxidise. If it was by the glass it sounds like they had it in the fridge for too long open.
I’m afraid the essence of what Neil says is correct.
I agree about the sav, you don’t need a palate to drink it. hahhaaha
Neil you should check out Spice I am for a cheap fantastic Thai meal, perhaps great with a textured pinot gris…
Jack
Went to the Spice for the first time in ages last night, actually. As the decor gets nicer the food mellows a little, but it’s still damned good. The nam khao tod (aka Burning Death, a salad of shredded pork sausages, deep-fried rice, dry chilli, peanuts, mint and red eschalot, served with iceberg, san choi bau-style), the kanom jeen nam ya (cool fermented rice vermicelli with fish curry sauce, Thai basil, pickles and beansprouts), the yum pla krob (a very fresh salad of crisp little fish and herbs) were the standouts, though the standards , like the jungle curry and the stir-fry of Chinese broccoli, pork belly and fresh red chilli) are also still pretty amazing.
And forget the pinot gris – the real wankers are all about the pinot blanc this year (though a Bredif Vouvray’s probably a better bet with that sort of sweetness and heat on the table).
I don’t think I can argue with that. Neil?
I meant to include a link; http://eatingwithjack.blogspot.com/search/label/Spice%20I%20am
I loved it so much, this was a glowing review. Beware the salads they pack a whopper of a chilli punch.
I wish there was comparable place in Melbourne, but I doubt there is another outside of Thailand, it’s that good.
Jack
If there’s a more authentic Thai in Australia, I’d really like to see it. The only one that comes within cooee for my buck is the branch of Chat Thai on Campbell Street in Sydney’s Chinatown. I reckon the Spice is the better overall package (even if it is full of farangs talking about textured pinot gris and the like), but the coconut cakes are totally rad.
You know the one thing I really miss from living in Sydney is the Thai food, even the lesser versions. I was tempted to try Paladarr Thai Issan but can’t be bothered to drive to Alphington to only be possibly disappointed. I guess I’ll have to drop in on David Thompson next week although the blog generated guide Opinionated About Dining ranked him among the most overrated in the city.
Oh yes, I just remembered. Restaurant & Catering made The Point Best Steak Restaurant for 2008 through a particularly rigorous judging process.
E – thanks for the reply, but do I have to add again, It was not wine that had gone off, but vinegar – as in acetic acid. I don’t believe it was the sort used for finishing foods, but quite possibly a cooking vinegar to deglaze pans etc. I’ve tasted wines that have gone vinegary before and this was not vinegary wine, but actual vinegar such as the type you can buy on the shelves of a supermarket or delicatessen (or your woggy grandfather can make in the backyard using a 50 year old mother brought over on the migrant ship). It was 100% acid and a long, long, long way distanced from vinegary wine. In essence, it was a mistake and instead of serving us an item from the drinks section of the menu, they served us an item used in the preparation of items in the food menu. I hope this clears up the matter, because I am aware of the difference between oxidised and vinegary wine and actual cooking vinegar!
Paladarr Thai Issan is quite close to where we live, and we had also not paid much attention to it, for fear it would be in the same league as so many Thai restaurants we’ve tried, but we were very pleasantly surprised. Everything we tasted was at least a couple of degrees better than what we’ve tasted before, and the ambience and decor of the room was not at all what we expected (large dark brown leather squishy banquettes – a legacy from the game restaurant it was before the owner went bankrupt and they bought the business). The story of how they started up there is quite interesting, and no doubt, the owner will tell you the whole story if you give him the slightest opportunity ; essentially they used to run a Thai restaurant in Trentham, not far from Daylesford but decided to come to Melbourne. One owner used to be Catholic monk and now does work as a theatre director and the other owner (also the chef) used to be a Buddhist monk; I would love to know how their paths met.
PS – It’s not *really* that far to Alphington, but I can understand the feeling because it’s what I feel whenever I have to head St Kilda way. I make the trek to Attica fairly often and have learnt that I only need to allocate ~25 minutes to get there, so I imagine it’d be about the same for you. Straight down Punt Rd.
I’d still sooner drink vinegar than Sauvignon Blanc.
You’re probably too you too remember “Kool” cigarettes, but same same. If you still don’t get it let me know and I’ll spell it out more clearly.
Neil
Sorry – “you” should have been “young”
…..and the second “too” should have been “to”.
Almost sloppy enough to get a gig with GT. Waddyafink Ed.
Neil
?
Niki, right now St Kilda is a long way. I’m in Dubai.
Neil, i won’t comment because of Murphry’s (as opposed to Murphy’s)Law which states if you pull some one up for some grammatical, typo or other mistake that you can guarantee that one will make another mistake oneself.
One of the most underated restaurant in town. It does have the total package and yes the steak is much better than vlado’s, rockpool or even wilson’s rustic steak at botanical. The beef tasting plate is deeevine. I do like the mellow atmos and have brought countless dates because of it ;p
The clandestine media conspiracy that is so aptly mentioned may have something to do with the fact this place, in my humble opinion as a somewhat regular, has been robbed on a deserving of a 15/20 one hatter.